LAND POLICY REFORM IN MEXICO 19912008

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LAND POLICY REFORM IN MEXICO (1991-2008)

• GUSTAVO GORDILLO
• LAND GOVERNANCE IN SUPPORT OF THE MDGS
• WORLD BANK
• MARCH 9-10 2009

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THE RURAL STRONGHOLD

• In the XX c 11 states
• concentrate between 68 y 71 of rural population

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• HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE AGRARIAN
  REFORM PROCESS

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WHAT IS THE EJIDO

• RURAL COMMUNITIES
• URBAN PLOT
• PLUS
• INDIVIDUAL PARCEL
• PLUS
• COMMON RESOURCES

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THE EJIDO TWO FACETS
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THE EJIDO BEFORE 1991

• URBAN PLOT NORMAL PRIVATE PROPERTY
• PARCELS PRIVATE USUS FRUCTUS
• COMMON LAND COLLECTIVE USUS FRUCTUS

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EJIDO RULES (UNTIL 1991)

• Work the land directly
• Could not hire wage labour.
• Could not rent the land or sell it.
• Absences from the ejido led to loss of right to
  the land.
• Ejidatarios could vote for and be elected to the
  Executive Committee of the ejido's Assembly.
• Executive Committee automatically membership to
  the PRI.
• MEXICO A ONE PARTY REGIME FROM 1929 UNTIL
  1997-2000

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STATE INTERVENTIONS

• Access to land could be gained in one of four
  ways
• In the internal life of ejidos
• In arbitration
• In controlling the flow of public resources to
  the ejido (credit, trading boards and guarantee
  prices,fertilizers,technical assistance,irrigation
  ,social welfare and infrastructure)

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THE REFORM PACKAGE

• End to land redistribution
• The three forms of property enshrined in the
  Constitution private,ejido and indigeneous land
• For the ejido and its three components, an array
  of options full property,condominium, rent,
  sharecropping, joint-ventures
• Self governed assemblies
• Land cadaster and registration to give titles to
  all ejidatarios
• Ombudsman to attend conflicts
• Special agrarian courts

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THE EJIDO AFTER 1991

• URBAN PLOT NORMAL
• PRIVATE PROPERTY
• PARCEL AS FARMER DECIDES FROM USUS FRUCTUS TO
  FULL PRIVATE PROPERTY
• COMMON LAND
• CONDOMINIUM PROPERTY

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EJIDO RULES (WITH REFORM)

• Work the land directly ELIMINATED
• Could not hire wage labour. ELIMINATED
• Could not rent the land or sell it. ELIMINATED
• Absences from the ejido led to loss of right to
  the land. ELIMINATED
• Order of heirs to their land in writing, usually
  naming a spouse or partner as the preferred
  successor. ELIMINATED
• Ejidatarios could vote for and be elected to the
  Executive Committee of the ejido's Assembly.
  ELIMINATED
• Executive Committee automatically membership to
  the PRI. ELIMINATED

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RESULTS(1)TITLING AND LAND MARKETS

• Out of 31.5 thousand ejidos, 28.1 ejidos have
  been measured and titled during the period
  (1994-2006) in which the titling program called
  PROCEDE operated.
• 6,000 of those ejidos titled with a total of 4.7
  million hectares have opt for full property,
  which means that less than 5 have chosen the
  alternative of potential privatization of their
  parcels. In fact 3 million hectares have been
  sold.
• 15,000 ejidos have reported operations of selling
  and buying of parcels to other ejidatarios and to
  neighbors
• Leasing markets?

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RESULTS(2)

• The national average size of the plots has
  been reduced from 9.1 hectares to 7.5 hectares,
  which might suggest that consolidation of bigger
  parcels thru buying and selling of land has been
  offset by intra-family subdivisions of plots.

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RESULTS(3)COMMUNITY GOVERNANCE

• The agrarian communities obtained more
  autonomy, but their abandonment was also
  increased (Merino, 2004, p. 195), particularly
  through a marked reduction in government
  supports.
• In addition, initial research shows that internal
  democratization of communities has not occurred
  as expected, and rather there have been new forms
  of intervention by local governments (Klooster,
  2003).

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DIFFERENTIATED RESULTS(4)

• First, as survey work on the ejido indicated( De
  Janvry, Gordillo and Sadoulet,1997), the reform
  process produced differentiated results across
  the vast number of communities as early as the
  mid-1990s.
• Second, the reform has been accompanied by a
  series of organizational and institutional
  innovations at the local level, which can be
  understood as social adaptive strategies in the
  face of the policy changes described above.

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RESPONSE STRATEGIES (1)

• Farmers modernizing agriculture access to water
  bigger extension of land combining corn with
  fruits and vegetables,
• Farmers that diversify activities thru complex
  agriculture and cattle combinations,
• Farmers that diversify income thru off farm
  activities via wages and remittances.

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RESPONSE STRATEGIES (2)

• Peasants which basic source of income is public
  funds,
• Peasants disconnecting from markets and
  developing almost autarchic livelihoods,
• Neighbors living in the ejido community with
  limited rights over the ejido lands ( an average
  of 85 neighbors per ejido versus 95 as full
  members) following mixed strategies

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DIVERSITY OF IMPACTS

• The legal reforms of 1991-1992 Constitution and
  Agrarian Law
• The policies reforms(1992-1997) PROCAMPO AND
  OPORTUNIDADES
• The changes in farmers associations (1979-1997)
• The economic crisis in 1994
• The electoral reform in 1996

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FACTS(1)

• MEXICO TOTAL POP 107 MILL
• LESS THAN 24 YRS 40 (2007)
• 50 of farmers more than 50 years
• With data from the 2005 ENIG 32 con food
  security poverty (less than two dollars per day)

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FACTS(2)

• Rural population will have a rate of growth below
  the national average 0.60 from 1990 to 2000 and
  (-) 0.32 from 2000 to 2005.
• Total rural population around 24 million
  inhabitants (less than 2500)
• International migration from 2001-2006, about 577
  thousand persons migrated to United States per
  year, a figure 2.5 times higher than the net
  annual migration from1981-1986.

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FACTS(3)

• Scattered small towns are the basic traits of the
  rural population.
• In 1970 towns of less than 2500 inhabitants were
  95,000. By 2005 towns of less than 2500
  inhabitants are estimated to have risen to
  185,000.
• In fact 42.9 per cent of the total rural
  population lives in towns of less then 500
  inhabitants

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FACTS (4)

• Of 180 million hectares that are part of the
  rural Mexican territories, more than half (106
  million hectares) have been distributed to 5.6
  million farmers thru the agrarian reform process
  during a period of 70 years (1920-1991). The
  private property sector is composed by 1.7
  million farmers which own 73 million hectares.

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FACTS(5)

• Of those almost 180 million hectares, 63 are
  natural grasslands and pastures, 18 for
  agricultural uses and15 forests and jungles.
• Of the 106 million hectares donated by the
  government to the farmers through the agrarian
  reform, 33.7 million hectares have been granted
  as plots and 69 million hectares have been
  granted as common property.

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FACTS(6)

• 3.8 million rural workers which have no land and
  a very weak labor legislation to protect them.
• 2.4 million neighbors some of which are sons and
  daughters of ejidatarios-, living in 17,349
  ejidos and communities.
• Rural migrants. On 13,000 ejidos youth have
  migrated of which around 65 to USA and 25 to
  big cities in Mexico.

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FACTS(7)

• More than 80 ethnic groups that basically live
  in the countryside. They are 10.2 million
  persons. Also the biggest ethnic population of
  Latin America representing 25 of the total
  indigenous population in the Region.

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